Gator Boy
My strange fascination with these misunderstood beasts.
“You’re crazy.”
“Do you really think that’s a good idea?”
“I don’t like you doing this but you’re our son and we’ll support you”
Shockingly, these aren’t quotes from my family when I told them I was starting a pro wrestling podcast and website. These quotes, and many others, were the reaction to my booking a solo trip to Miami to swim with rescued nuisance alligators with wild life expert Chris Gillette.
I wish I had a cool origin story but truthfully, I don’t know when or why my fascination with alligators started. I’ve probably seen every episode of Gator Boys on Animal Planet, which was my introduction to Chris (Gillette, not the co-founder of this site) and I think that ultimately is what made me realize how misunderstood these animals are. I’d watch episode after episode as the main star, Paul, would dive into Florida waters to capture wild, nuisance alligators, bring them to shore and ultimately put them in the back of his pickup truck to bring back to Everglades Holiday Park.
Florida law requires that any nuisance alligator over 4 ft. long must either be held in captivity or euthanized. Those in Gator Boys, as well as Chris and his colleagues, are essential to saving gators. You cannot simply drop an alligator off somewhere else, as their homing ability will always allow them to return to the same place. It’s actually this ability that alligators have that makes me certain I was never an alligator in a past life, as I use my gps to get to places I’ve driven to over a dozen times and still manage to get lost if the signal goes out for even 5 seconds. Places like Everglades Holiday Park and Everglades Outpost, to name a few, provide a second life to these incredible, misunderstood animals.
Chris Gillette has dedicated his life to helping gators and a few years ago, began allowing people like myself the opportunity to swim in a pool with alligators, headlined by the star of the show, Casper. Casper is like all his poolmates. Once a wild alligator that was deemed a nuisance and fortunately saved, rather than being killed by a trapper and sold to make leather. I specify this to say that Casper isn’t special. Chris didn’t raise him since he was hatched or anything like that. Hell, Chris doesn’t even know how old Casper is. Casper, like many of the alligators Chris works with, is trained but, as Chris points out, not tame. This experience is fully voluntary, both on Caper’s end and the participants. Casper is not forced to hang out with you. Chris simply calls his name and he’ll swim over.
The experience is 30 minutes per participant, which occurs after learning about Chris’ background, Casper and the role average people play in causing an alligator to be deemed a nuisance (hint: it starts with disobeying the “Don’t Feed Gators” signs all over Florida). While Casper is the star of the show, there are other gators in the same enclosure, of which I saw two and they were completely unbothered by my presence, as well as Chris’. I purchased the optional package where Chris used his underwater camera to take pictures throughout, which I highly recommend, as it’s hard to fully grasp it all in the moment, and will help keep you focused on being present.
Alligators are amongst the most misunderstood animals. General consensus seems to be that they are ruthless killing machines but the work Chris does helps de-stigmatize them and shows that they are smarter than most people realize, and not a blood thirsty, modern day dinosaur. Chris will be the first to tell you that the gators may sometimes test their limits with him, and if he were to make a mistake, he could face dire danger but they remain not what the general population think they are. Often times when a gator attacks a human, they don’t realize it’s a human, as they only see a small head above the water.
I’ve dreamt of doing this experience for years. I finally made the decision to book my trip this past January and fulfilled my booking on July 9th. It was everything I had hoped for and more. I was never really nervous about the prospect of swimming with Casper, though I figured I’d naturally feel some nerves as the moment came closer. Between Chris’ education before the swim and seeing how calm Casper was from the second we walked into his enclosure, I never had that moment of fear surface. Instead, I got to see exactly what Chris and so many others have expressed about alligators and the beauty that they possess.
Theres a saying in wrestling fandom: “For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.” For a long time, I’ve lived with this same motto for my love of alligators but after meeting Chris and Casper in person, it’s clear that explanation to those who don’t understand is not only possible but necessary.
Links:
Support Casper and his non-profit home, The Everglades Outpost, by visiting: https://www.evergladesoutpost.org
You can learn more about Chris and the Underwater Gator Tours here: https://www.crocodilechris.com as well as https://instagram.com/gatorboys_chris?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
If you’re local to Michigan, we also have an alligator sanctuary! Check out more on them at: https://www.alligatorsanctuary.com
